Commercial Law

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Failure to Require SEIS Not Arbitrary<br>Board of Fire Commissioners Lacks Standing to Challenge SEQRA Determination<br>Challenge to Pilot Agreement Reinstated<br>Statute of Limitations Bars Challenge to Excessive Height<br>Billboard Regulation Upheld

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<i><b>How Lenders to BREs Can Reduce the Risk of Debtor Bankruptcy Without Compromising Public Policies</b></i><p>Structured financing transactions, including those pertaining to commercial real estate, make extensive use of entities formed for the specific purpose of reducing the likelihood that assets will be involved in a potential bankruptcy proceeding. Known as “bankruptcy-remote entities,” or “BREs,” these entities are subject to structures and covenants in financing documents and their own formation documents, which are designed to reduce the likelihood that the BRE will file for bankruptcy protection.

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In a recent decision, Bankruptcy Judge Christopher S. Sontchi addressed the question of whether a Chapter 11 debtor, the tenant under a commercial lease, could exercise an option to renew the lease during the bankruptcy proceedings, even though the debtor was in default under the lease and the lease specified that it could not be renewed if defaults existed at the time the option was exercised.

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Section 8 Status Protects Tenant from Eviction<br>Questions of Fact About Acceptance of Surrender

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Moratorium Invalidated Where Consideration of Zoning Changes Not Planned<br>In Texas, LLCs Cannot Be Made to Pay Attorney Fees<br>No Interaction, No Equitable Tolling

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Punitive Damages for Intentional Encroachment<br>Questions of Fact About Readiness to Perform<br>Issues of Fact Preclude Summary Judgment in Action for Brokerage Commission<br>No Meritorious Defense to Foreclosure Action

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Town Board Failed to Take 'Hard Look' at Amendment<br>Jurisdictional Determination from Army Corps<br>Developer Failed to Allege Concrete Injury

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Can a foreclosing plaintiff choose whom to name as a party defendant in a foreclosure action? In New York, in the absence of prejudice to the defaulting property owner, the answer is yes. Although a recent holding of New York's Appellate Division, Second Department, tacitly suggests “no,” the case may not have addressed the actual controlling principles.